Petition on the Appointment of a Professor of DivinityMay 20, 1801Petition on the Appointment of a Professor of Divinity (May 20,1801)
This is the first of three petitions drawn up by Dartmouth students for the purpose of encouraging the Trustees to appoint
a permanent Professor of Divinity. This petition is dated May 20, 1801. The others are from 1804 and 1806, indicating that this
was very much a long term effort. This first draft of the petition is much shorter and less well organized than the final 1806 petition,
which listed students by class. This petition bears the signiature of Daniel Webster, found below on the second section, in the upper
right-hand region. Other signatories included Webster's friends and classmates, such as James Hervey Bingham and Ephraim Simonds, at whose funeral
Webster would speak later that year. Also included was Webster's brother Ezekiel, then in his first year at the College.